Queen's Park Report: From squeegee kids to the Ottawa Senators

by Richard Patten.
MPP, Ottawa Centre.

As many of you know, the Ontario government has recently introduced a
bill that would give police broad and sweeping powers to arrest and
prosecute so-called “squeegee kids” and “aggressive” panhandlers.

While we in Ottawa are familiar with squeegee kids on our downtown
street intersections, this legislation has been introduced in reaction to
the situation in Toronto and to a large degree it reflects this
government's misunderstanding of urban issues.

Our party is opposed to the government's legislation for several
reasons. We have legitimate concerns as to its enforceability, as many
legal experts have suggested that it will not stand up in a court of law.
There are currently municipal bylaws on the books that address the problem
of overly aggressive solicitation and we believe that is where the issue
should stay.

The provincial government would be well advised instead to take a
proactive approach by spending their efforts on treatment programs and
programs integrating these kids back into society. In the meantime, this
government should focus on more difficult issues. For example, our federal
colleagues are in the process of committing money towards the problem of
homelessness. Provincially, it is time we stepped up to meet that
challenge.

The Ottawa Senators

The provincial government has taken steps to level the playing field
for professional sporting franchises by bringing the property tax rate for
their facilities (Corel Centre) in line with municipally owned facilities.
Hamilton's Copps Coliseum and our own Jetform Park are municipally owned
and pay no provincial tax. This special property class would be used at
the discretion of the municipality.

This proposed solution should help alleviate some of the excess tax
burden that is threatening to drive the Senators out of town. This should
not be seen as a tax break for rich hockey players.

If the Senators are forced out, we lose all tax revenues they generate
and are willing to pay (through various other forms of taxation), and we
lose all the jobs and economic spin-offs (all tax revenue generating) that
they bring in as well. Sports fan or not, it is worth attempting to keep
our NHL team here.

Highway 17

On November 18th my colleague and long-time Liberal member from the
upper Ottawa Valley, Sean Conway, spoke to a resolution regarding Highway
17 west of Ottawa. He asked the government to keep its promise to extend
the construction of four lanes along the heavily used and dangerous
Highway 17 corridor between Ottawa and Pembroke.

I was happy to support his resolution. Many of you will know from your
travels how treacherous and busy this stretch of roadway can be. It is
similar in that way to the problem we experienced ten years ago with the
Highway 16 link to the 401.

As a minister at that time, I helped push for and got agreement to
make Highway 16 a four-lane highway. This of course has finally been
realized, and the statistics show that safety-wise it has been worth the
effort. We believe that the same would be true for Highway 17.